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So I've been working in the automotive industry for nearly 10 years now, and yet I still made a fatal school boy error.
I bought a 1995 Camaro Z28 yesterday. It has the six speed and only 113K on the odometer. Polo green with tan leather interior, no tears in the seats and absolutely no cracks in the dash or any of the other plastics prone to breaking.
The test drive went great, transmission rowed through the gears better than any Mustang I've ever owned. No fuss from the engine, no ticks, knocks, misfires, etc. On top of that, A/C blew cold and the dark tint job kept me cool in the rush hour traffic on the way home.
For the small price of $3,000, I thought I had gotten the steal of a lifetime. Right up until I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a wonderful cloud of blue smoke after letting off the gas.
I can't even be mad at the guy that sold it to me, it's my fault for not noticing something so painfully obvious. But oh well, I'm stuck with it and now it's time to start fixing things.
I found repair records in the glove box. Clutch and flywheel were replaced a year ago, battery is 6 months old yada yada yada. But the things the shop noticed, yet the previous owner declined to fix makes a nice checklist for things to do.
I knew it needed tires, but according to said repair shop it looks like ball joints and tie rods are also on the list.
According to the paperwork, valve stem seals are the culprit to the blue cloud of death. I suppose I could just keep adding oil, but there's two more years of smog testing on 95 models. Luckily it's legal until September, so I have time to fix it.
I suppose the suspension and tire bits are more important safety matters, so I plan to tackle them first.
I plan on pulling the heads myself, and having them rebuilt by a machine shop. I'm sure the obscure engine bay is going to make it a PITA, but the fact that it's just a simple pushrod engine is giving me the "how hard can it be?" mentality since I've been chest deep into DSMs for the past several years.
My ultimate plans for this thing is to keep it a fun daily/weekend car. My main car is a 2017 Camry and I have a 90 Eclipse GS-T and 91 Eclipse GSX sitting in pieces in my garage. Lord knows, I don't need another garage queen.
hey man it happens to the best of us. sounds like you arent super familiar with the platform? Once you get the valve covers and other items out of the way.....by the time you get just a long block you have quite a bit of room. still a tight fit on the passenger side with that A/C box design though. If you pull the radiator and intake plumbing you can actually stand in front of the motor if you are a medium sized person. I will say id add a set of longtubes to the list personally, you are gonna to pull the manifolds and all that cast iron is gonna be unforgiving after 20+ years.
hey man it happens to the best of us. sounds like you arent super familiar with the platform? Once you get the valve covers and other items out of the way.....by the time you get just a long block you have quite a bit of room. still a tight fit on the passenger side with that A/C box design though. If you pull the radiator and intake plumbing you can actually stand in front of the motor if you are a medium sized person. I will say id add a set of longtubes to the list personally, you are gonna to pull the manifolds and all that cast iron is gonna be unforgiving after 20+ years.
Not at all, really. Most of my car life has been Mitsubishi/Toyota with a little Ford and Dodge sprinkled in. I want long tubes in the long run but for now I'm stuck with the smog sniffer so I'm going to hold off on that for awhile. Luckily it's a Texas native car so the rust isn't terrible. Tell you what, it'll be refreshing to skip the timing bits on this head pull. Unfortunately, I weigh over 350 so I'll have to do this the hard way.
I found a set of refurb heads off eBay for $300, thinking about pulling the trigger on it but I'm not exactly eager to do heart surgery.
Doesn't apply to the LT1 years, the ls1 years (98-02) have anniversary the radiator style intake and the adtermaraft is heavy on different lids. The OE isn't bad t.butbmoat companies began to focus on the size of the outlet so it could pair with karger throttle bodies. The LT1 runs an elbow style intake that makes a 90 degree bend to the driver side and tends to draw air from.that negative space in front of the driver side wheel/bumper cavity
Sounds like relatively minor repairs... I wouldn't feel bad about it. Suspension on a car that old is always something likely needing to be addressed... and to have blue smoke mean valve seals and not rings is good luck on your part.
Sounds like relatively minor repairs... I wouldn't feel bad about it. Suspension on a car that old is always something likely needing to be addressed... and to have blue smoke mean valve seals and not rings is good luck on your part.
Thank you. I've recently replaced one of the upper control arms, both tie rods, and had four new tires installed. I plan on saving up for a set of ported heads, or I may have the stock ones ported. Also plan on headers considering the stock ones are crusty and leaking from the gaskets. Other than that, still runs great.
Thank you. I've recently replaced one of the upper control arms, both tie rods, and had four new tires installed. I plan on saving up for a set of ported heads, or I may have the stock ones ported. Also plan on headers considering the stock ones are crusty and leaking from the gaskets. Other than that, still runs great.
A leak down test will tell you if it is the rings or not!
True, but I'm dreading pulling the spark plugs. I even thought about just waiting until I pulled the heads if I'm honest!
I hope for your sake that it is the heads and if so there should be a tell there but since the heads are still on the car a leak down can put your mind at ease about the rings. A little frustration now could save you from a lot of frustration later.
I hope for your sake that it is the heads and if so there should be a tell there but since the heads are still on the car a leak down can put your mind at ease about the rings. A little frustration now could save you from a lot of frustration later.
Luckily I realized the spark plugs will be easy enough to get to as soon as I pull the headers. It's also showing signs of head gasket failure, I flushed the coolant and had lovely chunks of brown come out. I'm thinking combustion gasses, old Dexkill or tons of stop leak. Either way I'm replacing the cooling system while I'm at it.
I had a death in the immediate family back in August, so the car has been on the back burner to say the least. An old beater van was actually left to me, 03 Caravan with only 63K miles. Makes for a good parts hauler. Either way, the Camaro went from a runner to a project really quickly, and I have other projects I should tend to first just to clean out the garage.
Great car! Longtime LT owner, sold my last and bought a very nice low mile t56 ls1. Kept it a couple months and sold it,, had to get back in a LT car,, they are just my thing😁 So picked this up, just changed wheels. Came with Kooks headers and catted y,, Lingenfelter cai, Strange 12 bolt with 4:11 posi and a Solomon tune. Also has rare factory totl slp exhaust. Needs a little love but ecstatic to be in a 97 SS LT1 T56
You sure its the valve seal? Couldn't that be caused by a piston ring?
Hada buddy that had something like that happen, optispark wasn't sending to cylinder 7, scorched the ring then he got smoke all the time.
Just had to rebuilt the top of the motor, which is more of a pain in the *** to get too, think they ended up pulling the motor to make it easier.
You sure its the valve seal? Couldn't that be caused by a piston ring?
Hada buddy that had something like that happen, optispark wasn't sending to cylinder 7, scorched the ring then he got smoke all the time.
Just had to rebuilt the top of the motor, which is more of a pain in the *** to get too, think they ended up pulling the motor to make it easier.
At this point I've contemplated getting a reman long block from Summit and calling it a day, considering everything is original. I'm hoping it's top end on the pure fact that a $275 head rebuild is better than a $3,000 long block. Will post results when I start working on it. I parked it a month ago.
Great car! Longtime LT owner, sold my last and bought a very nice low mile t56 ls1. Kept it a couple months and sold it,, had to get back in a LT car,, they are just my thing😁 So picked this up, just changed wheels. Came with Kooks headers and catted y,, Lingenfelter cai, Strange 12 bolt with 4:11 posi and a Solomon tune. Also has rare factory totl slp exhaust. Needs a little love but ecstatic to be in a 97 SS LT1 T56
Looks good, my paint hasn't dulled out but there are definitely spots that need attention. I honestly prefer the LT cars, but I'm more into 90s nostalgia than raw power.
06-07-2018, 02:26 PM
Just bought an LT1, and I feel like an idiot. 
